REBECCA WHITE, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING: Well, today, we're talking about the significant value our Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are providing to Tasmanians right across the state. Here at the Sorell Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, it's been open just shy of two months and already seeing more than 1300 patients. It is, on average, seeing more patients per week than the Hobart Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, which just speaks to how important it is to have services like this available in regional parts of our state. Across the state, we've seen really great use of our Medical Urgent Care Clinics. The Launceston Medicare Urgent Care Clinic is going to hit 50,000 patients next week, which is a huge milestone. In the city centres, we've got 45,000 patients who've used those two centres. Bridgewater's hit 10,000 patients since it opened, and up in Devonport, they've seen 35,000 patients. So, we know how valuable these have been to thousands of Tasmanians, to have access to fully bulk billed care through a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, and here at the Sorell Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, we know that people are using it in really high numbers.
And it's taking pressure off our emergency departments, but more importantly than that, it's providing access for people closer to home for the healthcare that they need. When somebody has an urgent need to go and get healthcare, they know that they can come here to the Sorell Medicare Urgent Care Clinic. People like Stuart, who's with me today, who was able to use this service on Christmas Eve, when there's a lot of pressure on other health services, it's really tricky to get in to see your normal treating doctor. He came here to the Medicare Urgent Care Clinic at Sorell and was seen really quickly, and was treated and was able to leave feeling confident that he was going to be okay to get through that Christmas period. And that's what it's about. It's providing peace of mind for patients who live in parts of community like here in Sorell and in the regions that surround it, but also great support for our doctors who get to support a wider variety of patients and provide that urgent care. And I'm just really thrilled here in Sorell, at the Sorell Family Practice, we've been able to establish this service, which was a commitment we gave at the last election, and we've been able to deliver it, opening it before Christmas last year, and it's been really well used already.
JOURNALIST: Stuart, do you want to talk us through your experience with this Urgent Care Clinic?
STUART CORDWELL, PATIENT: I'd had a total knee reconstruction and another operation on the other knee. I got out of bed Christmas Eve and my leg was burning. And sort of had a look, and it had bad stuff running and then it all broke open. So, I rang my doctor, which is in Hobart, and he works in another clinic on that day, and I couldn't get to him. And I probably couldn't have got him till after Christmas. I knew it was urgent, so I thought about going to the Royal, and then I thought, well, I didn't really want to spend Christmas in the Royal, so I came here. And yeah, I had a very bad infection. The doctor seen me very promptly and gave me the penicillin and stuff I needed, and ended up having a beautiful Christmas with the family.
JOURNALIST: You mentioned there you didn't really want to spend Christmas Eve in the hospital, and you don't know how long you could have actually spent-
CORDWELL: [Interrupts] No, no, I would have had to go on to intravenous penicillin, so it would have been quite a while, I think.
JOURNALIST: And, I guess, how much of a relief is it to have a clinic like this?
CORDWELL: Oh, very much so. Especially so close to home when you can't walk, you're battling to get to the toilet and everything else. So, the closer, the better, and it worked out very well.
JOURNALIST: And had you used an Urgent Care Clinic before this, or …?
CORDWELL: No. No, I hadn’t.
JOURNALIST: What was your experience like? What were the [indistinct] …
CORDWELL: [Interrupts] Oh, beautiful, yeah. No, I came in. The main experience was me being not real good on the phone, filling out the forms, but once I went to the office and asked for a paper one, they nearly beat me, calling me in.
JOURNALIST: And, I guess, what's your recovery looked like since then?
CORDWELL: Yeah, I think everything's fine. I haven't had to go back to my doctor. I've had a phone consult. And I've just got to keep an eye on things, and hopefully, all goes well.
JOURNALIST: Okay. Anything else you wanted to add?
CORDWELL: No. It's just a very great thing for the area, as I see it. Especially for the older people, and we've got the service that they'll bring us up if we need to, so it’s great.
JOURNALIST: Great. What's your experience been like working here?
BRENTON SYSTERMANS, UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA: I've just arrived at the Sorell Clinic two days ago. It's my third day here, and it was immediately evident how well set up it was, and how well accepted it was by the community and what a vital service that it is providing to the local community here.
JOURNALIST: For people that aren't really aware, can you provide us an update what exactly care you can receive here?
SYSTERMANS: So we'll see people with any acute illnesses or acute injuries. We see people with quite common things, like they might have a urinary tract infection. They might have a bit of a sore ear or a sore throat, they come in. These are things people can't get in to see their local GPs for because the wait here in this part of the state can be two or three weeks to see their regular GP, and sometimes longer is my understanding. And so, if the GPs aren't able to provide these acute services, these are patients who previously end up in emergency departments when they don't necessarily need to be attending the Royal. So they can come in here and we can sort out- there’s a few issues. We also see lacerations and simple fractures and breaks and limb injuries, so all those sorts of things can come through the Urgent Care Centre and avoid having that long wait that we know can occur in the emergency departments.
JOURNALIST: And have you heard anything from the emergency department how these Urgent Care Clinics are perhaps relieving some pressure on them?
SYSTERMANS: I understand that they are. I haven't had discussions with my colleagues at the Royal. But I've got friends who've been working for a long period of time up at the Launceston Urgent Care Centre. I'm aware that that's having a great effect up there, and they’re very happy with the results there.
JOURNALIST: How important is it to expand healthcare in regional communities? What are some of the key issues you sort of have noticed in regional areas?
SYSTERMANS: It's well known that patients in regional areas suffer worse health outcomes because their access to healthcare is lower than those in urban settings. So by providing support out in the regional areas and getting more doctors and services out there, we're hopefully able to improve the outcomes for patients who live in these parts of the country.
JOURNALIST: So, health ministers are convening at a round table talking about bed blocks specifically with age care, patients kind of taking up these beds when they could be discharged but there's no other alternative facility before they go home. What is the Federal Government, I guess, doing to help fix that issue?
WHITE: Health ministers are meeting today to discuss a range of ways that we can better support patients to access the care that they need. Just recently, there was the landmark deal for the National Health Reform Agreement which will see an additional $25 billion invested in our hospitals across the country to make sure that patients can access care in a timely manner.
We're also making significant investments in age care. Because we do understand that people have traditionally had to wait too long. And that's why there's an extra 83,000 packages of care that are being rolled out as we speak around the country so that people can access more timely care, so they can age in place and hopefully not end up in a hospital taking up space that we know is required for acute intervention.
JOURNALIST: Where exactly is that funding going towards, the 83,000 packages.
WHITE: So, as part of our $4.3 billion investment in aged care, we included updating the Aged Care legislation that came into effect on the 1st of November last year. Alongside that, it released 83,000 new packages of care for older Australians, which are being progressively rolled out. What that means is that older Australians are having more opportunities to be assessed and access a package of care to be able to stay at home to get the support that they need so they can stay and age in place rather than transition into residential age care or end up in hospital.
JOURNALIST: So, just another that I understand at the round table they'll be discussing making mandatory food safety labels. Do you have an update on where the Federal Government is on that?
WHITE: Yeah. So, food ministers had a meeting this morning. And as Chair of that I was really pleased to see their support to raise a proposal for FSANZ to mandate Health Star ratings. What this means is it will provide more choice for consumers who are going into supermarkets and having a look at products on shelves, and trying to compare whether something is healthy or not and seeing the star rating that's provided on those packaged goods.
The work that happens over the next 12 months will include two rounds of public consultation to provide feedback to Government about how we implement proposal like this to make sure that we can roll out Health Star ratings across the country. Up to this point in time and it's been voluntary, and we've seen the take up be much lower than what we would have liked. It's stuck stubbornly below 40 per cent take up. And that's where food ministers have been really clear that we want to see it much higher than that and, since 2020, have talked about hitting 70 per cent take up by this stage. It hasn't been reached, so we are seeking to mandate it.
JOURNALIST: Just locally, I'm not sure if you're aware but Catholic Care has announced the closure of two childcare centres - one in Rokeby and one in Bridgewater - and parents seem quite distressed about it. Do you, I guess, have a take on that at all?
WHITE: I can understand that this is very disruptive for parents who have enrolled children in long day care and in being informed that from July they'll have to find alternative places. I have been in contact with Catholic Care today to understand the reasons for this decision. They've provided some advice and I understand they'll provide some further information publicly to explain their changes. There will not be a continuation of these long day care services at either of these sites, and that will be a real challenge for parents who are relying on these services.
There are obviously a lot of challenges in accessing long day care, and that's why our Government's been so focused on investing in this space. We recently made an announcement to build more centres in Tasmania as part of our commitment to building early childhood education infrastructure right around the country, including here in Tasmania. And we've also commenced from this year the three-day guarantee which provides access to very heavily subsidised child care for parents who do have a place in a centre.
We understand that one of the biggest challenges for families wanting to go back into training or back to work can sometimes be being able to access affordable child care, and that's where our investment is so critical. I recognise at this point in time though, for those families who are relying on these services provided by Catholic Care, it's very disruptive. And I just encourage Catholic Care to work with them to see if they can provide alternatives. Because it is quite a challenge to find a place in Southern Tasmania.
JOURNALIST: On those Bob Brown protests. We've seen about two dozen people arrested and several saw mills shut down temporarily. What's your message to those protesters?
WHITE: Well, there's nothing wrong with people protesting peacefully, as long as they're doing it lawfully. And it is important that they don't put their own safety or the safety of workers at risk. I think it's really important for us all to heed that message. You can make a point without disrupting somebody's workplace as you're doing it.
JOURNALIST: Did the Federal Environmental reforms for native forest logging last year go far enough? I know it's not your portfolio, but obviously a key issue down here in Tasmania.
WHITE: Yeah. Just before Christmas last year the Federal Parliament did pass new environmental laws, including establishing a new Environmental Protection Agency and strengthening environmental laws that hadn't had any attention paid to them over the preceding decade. This will help improve our environmental protections, but also make it really clear about what can and can't proceed if you're looking to progress a particular development.
When it comes to instances like we've observed in Tasmania recently, those things are traditionally dealt with under state laws. And where somebody has trespassed, it is of course illegal if they're disrupting a business and they're causing safety concerns for either that person or workers in that environment. That is a problem and, of course, the police are right to respond.
JOURNALIST: Angus Taylor is the new Leader of the Liberal Party. What are your initial reactions to this morning's developments?
WHITE: Well look, the first thing I would like to say is to pass on my thanks to Sussan Lee for her contribution to public life. She has announced her resignation from the Federal Parliament. And it is important to note that, despite political differences, when you put your hand up for public service that requires a lot of commitment. And I want to acknowledge her dedication to her electorate and to her political party. She was really undermined from day one and I think a lot of Australians would look at that and see that she had a pretty tough go from the moment she put her hand up.
I mean, the Liberal Party have a lot of soul searching to do and we need a credible Opposition in this country. They haven't been able to deliver on that and they really have to get their house in order and a change of leadership may help them, it may not help them. They don't have any policies or plan for our country at the moment. And that's what Australians want to see. They want to see a plan for assisting with tackling cost of living, for providing greater access to health care, supporting families to get a fair go.
And that's what our job to do is to do as local representatives, is to put forward ideas and, as political parties, to make sure we deliver on those things. And that's what I'm pleased to be able to do as part of a Labor Government.
JOURNALIST: Just finally, Jane Hume oversaw the work from home policy in last year's federal election. What sort of message do you think it sends to female voters that she's now the deputy?
WHITE: I think- well, I can speak on my own behalf. I think as a woman here in Australia looking at the challenges the Liberal Party has faced, not just with the recent leadership spill and challenge but more broadly, they do need to do a better job of coming up with policies to support participation in the workforce for women, participation in broader life and being supported through a leadership team that acknowledges some of those challenges. I'm really proud of the work that we're doing in Government. I'm focused on helping to deliver that. That is my job and I'm going to keep doing those things.